Higher Prevalence Rates of Smoking in Rural than Urban Areas among School-Going Adolescents in the Lusaka Province; Zambia

RESUMO

Objectives: The objective of the study was to compare prevalence rates of smoking in school-going adolescents among urban; peri-urban; and rural districts. Design: Secondary analysis of the Zambia Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GTYS) data of 2007. Main outcome measure: Tobacco smoking status. Results: Totals of 2378 adolescents in Lusaka urban; 1 7 5 6 in Ka f u e p e r-u r ba n ; a nd 1 38 6 i n Chongwe/Luangwa rural districts were enrolled into the study. Smoking rates were 10.5in urban; 11.1in peri-urban; and 13.5in rural districts. After adjusting for age; sex; grade; parental and best friend smoking status; and knowing that smoking is harmful to health; compared to adolescents in L u s a k a u r b a n d i s t r i c t ; a d o l e s c e n t s i n Chongwe/Luangwa rural districts were 17(AOR=1.17; 95CI [1.10; 1.23]) more likely to smoke cigarettes. No significant difference in smoking rates was observed between adolescents in urban and peri-urban districts. Conclusions: The prevalence rate of smoking among adolescents was higher in rural than urban district. Antismoking interventions should be more targeted to adolescents in rural than urban areas